LRI Investments LLC Increases Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

LRI Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 292,867 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,971 shares during the quarter. Assured Guaranty accounts for 2.6% of LRI Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. LRI Investments LLC owned about 0.54% of Assured Guaranty worth $22,595,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. TCW Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth $1,389,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 906,644 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $69,948,000 after acquiring an additional 16,110 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 63.1% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 52,674 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,064,000 after acquiring an additional 20,380 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 535.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,965 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 284.0% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 41,475 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,200,000 after acquiring an additional 30,673 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total transaction of $3,124,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at $110,213,570.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AGO. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Assured Guaranty from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AGO traded up $0.77 on Friday, reaching $78.09. The company had a trading volume of 195,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 391,885. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $57.52 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $78.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 57.45%. The business had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $193.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.58%.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The company offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments.